Texan? 3 Civil War Role in Doubt?l
A 3 Records Indicate. A ge 'Is 104

I WASHINGTON, Sept. 3 (UPI)
??'Does America still have a liv-
ing Civil War veteran?

Walter G. Williams of Hous-
ton. Tex.. contends he fought
in the Confederate Army and
that he will mark his 117th
birthday on Nov. 14.

Congress recently approved
and President Eisenhower signed
a resolution declaring that the
day of Williams? death would
be a national day of mourning.
He has been receiving a special
pension granted by Congress in
1958 and was awarded a special
gold medal.

But the records indicate Mr.

lWilliams? memory may not be
laccurate.
. Questions arose when an Ohio
phousewife recently called the
Cincinnati Post and Times-Star.
She said she had spent her girl-
hood on a farm near his near
Franklin, Tex. She said Mr.
Williams had not served in the
Civil War.

Texas Records Searched

Lowell K, Bridwell, Scripps-
Howard writer, searched Texas
records and concluded that Mrs.

 

Opal Beckett of Miamitown.
Ohio. was right.

A sworn statement by LMr.i
Williams gave his age at 86 in
1932. when he applied with the
Texas comptroller for a Civil
War veteran?s pension. Those
figures would make him 113
this year.

Mr. Williams also listed his
middle initial on the application
as instead of the he
now uses.

The records indicate that Mr-

 

 

'Williams' middle initial is in-
rdEEd instead of W. But they
also indicate that he will be
lonly 10-1 on his next birthday

and. therefore. too young to
{have fought in the Civil War.
In his pension application
Mr. Williams stated he was
born in Adawanda County.
?Missu on Nov. 14, 1846. and
that he joined the Confederate
Army about eleven months be-
fore the war ended. He said he
joined Hood?s Texas Brigade.

Not With Hood?s Brigade

The National Archives show

no Walter W. or G. Williams in
Hood's Brigade either while
 the general commanded it or
yafter it retained its same title
when the general had been pro-
lmoted and transferred.
Census records show that in
1860 in Itawamba County. Miss?
lthere lived a George W. and
?Nancy Williams with a child
named George (3., age 5.

When the 1870 census was
taken in Brazos County, Tex.,
Ia George W. and Nancy Wil-
lliams also were listed there
'along with one of their children
named Walter G.. whose age
was. then listed as 15.

Apparently the Adawanda
County Mr. Williams
listed in his pension application
in 1932 was a misspelling. There
lis no Adawanda County listed
for the state although there is
an Itawamba County.

Officials point out that there
is no absolute way of knowing
if the records refer to the same
Mr. Williams.

 

 

Ely: ?rm ?crk Eimrs

Published: September 4, 1959
Copyright The New York Times